Peoria Ballet to debut area composer's 'Changeless Mover'

Inspiration for composer James Marck's "The Changeless Mover Ballet" came from extraordinarily divergent sources - 13th century Italian philosopher Thomas Aquinas, influential 20th century composer Igor Stravinsky, and the contemporary electronic music often heard in dance clubs. But, in spit...

Inspiration for composer James Marck's "The Changeless Mover Ballet" came from extraordinarily divergent sources - 13th century Italian philosopher Thomas Aquinas, influential 20th century composer Igor Stravinsky, and the contemporary electronic music often heard in dance clubs.

But, in spite of so much inspiration, the ballet still would not exist without the expertise of Servy Gallardo, creative director of the Peoria Ballet.

"I hear the music and I see things," explained Gallardo during a recent interview at the Peoria Ballet's north Peoria studio. Gallardo pictures choreography when he hears music. The first time he heard Marck's piece, which at the time was only about 4 minutes long, he could picture the possibilities. Gallardo helped Marck see how an abstract piece of music written about a philosophical discourse could become a ballet, and he encouraged him to write more music.

"Together we made it into a story," said Marck, 26, the music director at Sacred Heart Church and a 2010 graduate of Bradley University with a degree in music composition.

"The Changeless Mover" will have its world premier during the second half of the Peoria Ballet concert at Five Points Washington Oct. 11 and 12. The first half of the show will feature traditional ballet choreographed by Gallardo to the music of Felix Mendelssohn, Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Philip Glass and Carl Orff.

The ballet tells the story of the battle between faith and reason fought in the mind of philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas as he wrote his famous work, the "Summa Theologica." Draped in priestly robes of the 13th century,

Gallardo portrays Aquinas. But he does little dancing - instead he stands behind a table, pen in hand, writing his book. He directs his thoughts with an occasional swing of his hand. In the foreground, Faith, danced by Allexe Slevin, and Reason, danced by Alexandra James, portray his thoughts. They do battle in the form of contemporary dance. Both leads are accompanied by angels - a total of six ballerinas perform the piece.

"All the gestures they are making, I'm writing it," said Gallardo. "When I change the page, I make a gesture like I'm calling them - they become my thoughts, what I'm writing in the book."

While traditional ballet is all about beauty and graceful movement, contemporary dance utilizes a more angular gesture and rhythmic beat. The music that accompanies "The Changeless Movers Ballet" is also contemporary, though it is classically inspired - in fact, Marck borrowed from Igor Stravinsky, whose use of musical dissonance matched the raw quality of Aquinas' writing.

"A lot of the second and fifth movement feature direct musical quotes from Stravinsky," said Marck. Stravinsky fans might not immediately recognize those passages, however, because the sound crosses the line into electronic dance music after being realized on electronic analogue synthesizers by Chillicothe-based "Suit and Tie Guy" Eric Williamson.

Page 2 of 2 - "I composed the notes and rhythm, then "Suit and Tie Guy" plugged the notes into his synthesizers," said Marck. "The distortion and vibration and the way the music can morph from one tabor into another is unique to electronic music."

The music and dance are both cutting edge, and the dancers are really enjoying the change of pace, said Gallardo.

"We are all really excited about it because it is completely different for them," he said. "I am always searching for new music and ideas to challenge our students."

In addition to challenging his students, Gallardo is also excited about the opportunity to premier an original piece. Both he and Marck would like to see more artistic collaborations between area composers and the ballet. For Marck, the event has special meaning.

"It's my first ballet."

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If you go

What: Peoria Ballet Presents the world premier of "The Changeless Mover Ballet."

When: 7 p.m. Oct. 11 and 12.

Where: Five Points Washington, 360 N. Wilmor Road, Washington.

Tickets: $20 in advance, $24 at the door, and are available at peoriaballet.com. or 690-7990.